How to Burn
by Jldaniel
Summary: Arthur felt himself fill with dread. "What do you mean?" he asked looking towards the burning 'witch' on the pyre, flames now licking at her thigh's. She was screaming and yanking at the chains. "I meant exactly what I said." replied 'Merlin', smirking evily, "Just a simple switching spell and, well, poor Merlin up there looks like he's having such a blast." / Four-shot, Friendship
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own MERLIN, nor do I make any money off of this piece of fan fiction.

AN: This will be a four-shot, two in Arthurs' POV and two Merlins' POV. This is the first Arthur one. I hope you enjoy.

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ARTHUR's POV

"Please! Please! You don't understand, I'm not-"

"Shut up." shouted Arthur, turning to face the old witch. She was bound in magic resistant chains being dragged from the dungeons by a couple of his knights. "I don't care about what you have to say, you are a sorcerer and you tried to kill me…and now you will burn." He turned back and proceeded to walk up the dungeon stairs and out towards the courtyard.

"Please, I'm not-" she pleaded, but Arthur didn't want to hear it.

"Gag her." Arthur ordered, and a piece of old cloth was shoved into the witch's mouth and tied in place with another before she could even make another sound. Arthur could see tears run from the corner of her eyes and she gave him a look of desperation. He didn't budge however; she was an evil witch who tried to slaughter him in his sleep. The only reason he was still alive right now was because of his faithful manservant Merlin.

_Mer_lin, of all people, had been cleaning behind the dressing screen when the witch entered and managed to somehow knock the old witch out. But it was beyond him how Merlin managed it. His manservant was completely and utterly useless, but despite that, he wouldn't change manservants for the world. The Idiot was the only thing keeping him going half of the time, with his weird remarks and incessant humming. Arthur would never admit that he considered the man a friend…out loud that is.

They were now approaching the pyre, set up in the middle of the courtyard, peasants already looking in, ready for the burning to begin. His father sat up on the balcony, Morgana to his left. Gwen was standing in the crowd next to Gaius, and his most trusted knights Sir Elyan, Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival and Leon were standing guard with various other knights in case of an attack. Arthur figured Merlin was at the _tav_ern as usual; Merlin really wasn't an execution type of person.

Sir Elyan and Gwaine, grabbed hold of the struggling witch, who was still trying to talk through the gag and dragged her up onto the pyre where they attached the witch, chains and all, to a hook at the top of the pyre. Arthur knew for a fact that the chains suppressed a sorcerers magic, preventing them from using it and escaping. His father told him they'd been made during the purge as sorcerers kept on escaping by just busting the locks with a simple spell.

Arthur went to stand with his knights and waited for his farther to read out the crimes committed by the sobbing and shaking witch who had finally given up trying to talk through the gag.

"You will be executed on this day for the crimes of treason, and the practice of sorcery. Let this be a lesson to you all…" His father addressed the crowd. "Sorcery in my kingdom will be punished by death." And giving one last hard look at the crowd which had now grown to fill the entire courtyard, he gave the order for the executioners to light the pyre.

The pyre lit up fast and within about thirty seconds the tips of the flames were starting to lick the bottom the witch's feet, who had started pulling at the chains trying to get away. She was once again trying to say stuff through the gag but no one cared what she had to say.

Arthur looked around at the crowd and saw many indifferent looks, though a few were grimacing and a couple smiling. He looked to his father and saw he had a satisfied look on his face whilst Morgana was smirking slightly. He looked around himself at his knights, who all wore a look of indifference on their faces and nodded slightly to himself. Finally he looked back towards the pyre, the tips of the flames were now approaching the witches ankle who was grimacing slightly in pain.

Suddenly behind him he heard a chuckle in a very familiar voice. Turning around and looking towards and entrance into a small alley he saw Merlin, in a very un-Merlin like manor leaning against the alley wall chuckling in glee up at the burning witch.

"Merlin!" he called out and made his way over to his servant, who, to his annoyance, smiled even wider when he saw Arthur approaching.

"_Sire_" said Merlin sarcastically, adopting an amused look. "Fancy seeing you here, come to join the show have you?"

Arthur felt his mouth dropped open in surprise; the last thing expected from his idiotic manservant was, well, _this_.

"_Mer_lin" he said in disbelief and grabbed his manservant by the arm. "What on earth are you laughing about? This is an _execution_. I didn't expect this from _you _of all people."

"Oh, but it's not _Me_." answered Merlin to his confusion. A scream wrung out over the courtyard and Arthur looked over to the burning pyre. The flamed were now at the witch's knees, she was writhing in pain tears streaming down her face. Even the gag couldn't block out the full extent of the scream.

However the scream just made Merlin laugh out louder in mirth. Arthur just spun back around and glared in anger and disbelief at the manservant. He let go of Merlin's arm in disgust.

"What do you mean it's not _you _Merlin?" he asked seething. However, the idiot just kept on smiling.

"Oh but I mean _exactly_ what I said." replied Merlin with an evil smile on his face. "You Pendragons are so easy to trick. Just a simple switching spell and, well, poor Merlin up there looks like he's having such a blast." Arthur looked to the pyre again when Merlin smirked and nodded his head towards the burning witch who was still screaming and writhing, yanking at the chains. The flames were now to her thighs.

Arthur could feel the dread spread through him, filling him up until he felt weak at the knees, like he was going to collapse. He spun back around to what he hoped was Merlin, but he'd moved out of the alley into the open and was laughing his head off like a mad man.

Peasant, noble and royalty alike all turned towards the laughing Merlin in surprise. Arthur figured that they, like he, never expected the sweet man Merlin to be laughing at someone else's torturous death like this. Arthur knew Gaius was certainly shocked like everyone else, but for everyone that shock turned into fear and then dread as the laughing man Merlin morphed into the witch, her laughter turning feminine as she disappeared into thin air with a puff of smoke and few short words.

Like it was choreographed, all heads and eyes turned slowly back towards the pyre like they were afraid of what they'd find, and what was once the evil witch, was now his faithful manservant…_Merlin_.

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AN: Next Chappie Coming Soon.

Next Up: Merlin's POV of how he got to the pyre.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own MERLIN, nor do I make any money off of this piece of fan fiction.

AN: This is part two or four. I hope you enjoy. (Slight graphical descriptions of Burning)

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MERLIN's POV

Merlin wasn't quite sure how exactly he'd gotten into the cell. What he did know however, was one, he wasn't himself…literally he was the old witch who spoke to him just before he'd been knocked out, and two, he couldn't get out. Couldn't use his magic, couldn't speak due to his extremely dry throat and even if he could… no one would believe him, and so he just sat there contemplating on what to do exactly to get out of this situation.

For once in his life Merlin was slightly scared, scared of the impending doom that would befall him in about 20 minutes. Scared for his friends and family; Gwen, the knights, Gaius and Arthur, and scared for the life of the kingdom he was supposed to protect, for if he weren't there to protect it, he knew that without a doubt, it would perish. As time ticked closer and closer to is burning time, scared turned into dread and then with only three minutes before they'd come for him, he was shaking like a leaf.

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Merlin thought back to what he knew of this situation, back to what happened before he'd been knocked out by the evil, slightly insane… very insane, 'witch'. She didn't have a motive, she just liked to cause mayhem and trauma, apparently she liked to see people in pain…great, great pain… or at least that's what she'd told him. To Merlin that was insanity.

He'd gone to Arthur's rooms to pick up his neckerchief which he'd left on the desk earlier that evening. Slowly opening the door to Arthur's rooms he peeked over at the bed to see the guy wrapped around his blankets like a cocoon, Arthur was the only person he'd known who slept like that. Quietly he tip toed over to the desk and grabbed his trusty neckerchief and tied it around his neck before spinning around to quietly leave. Stopping abruptly he saw something from the corner of his eye, a rustle in the curtains. Slowly he crept forward and reached out toward the curtains but stopped dead still when he felt the point of a knife slightly pierce the small of his back.

"Make one sound and I'll stick this knife through your body and then I'll stick it through your precious prince. Understood?" said an old scratchy voice which sounded like it came from a woman. The curtain had been a distraction.

Nodding, he slowly raised his hands to show mercy, he _really_ didn't want a knife in his back, and if he died, then no one would be able to save Arthur. That was of course if he could save himself first.

"Turn around." the voice whispered quietly into his ear.

Slowly he turned, hands still raised in mercy until he fully faced what he found to be and oldish woman or apparently witch he determined when he saw that the knife wasn't being held, but was floating and now pointed towards his stomach, the witch's eyes were a glow with a bright red instead of the normal gold. Merlin knew without a doubt that one wrong move with get him a knife in the stomach.

"I won't let you kill Arthur." He said in his voice of steel, glaring with golden eyes at the witch. His magic was right there ready to be used.

"Oh…You're a sorcerer. Ah, I see." said the witch in realisation. "He doesn't know does he? Arthur I mean. He doesn't know that you're a sorcerer. Just imagine what he'd think then, if he'd found out." The witch smiled at Merlin's hard look.

"I'm a warlock." He said hatefully, "There's a difference, and he's not going to find out until I'm ready to tell him."

"Yes I suppose your right." said the witch, and Merlin frowned in confusion. Usually they plotted the reveal of his secret, successfully distracting them from actually _killing_ Arthur. However it didn't seem to be working that way this time. The witch however continued on. "But no matter, I've just had the most wonderful idea yet, I've been watching you both, I know that Arthur would accept you, it might take a while of course but he would none the less. No, what would really hurt him would be to see you burn and not be able to save you. Yes… that alone would kill him, despite what he says to himself and those around him, he really is quite fond of you."

Merlin sneered. "If what you say is true, Arthur would never kill me or let be burn, so whatever your planning it's not going to work." replied Merlin in retaliation.

"Isn't it?" said the witch with an insane smile and the knife plunged into his stomach.

Merlin gasped in surprise and gripped the knife sticking out of his stomach. His knees became weak and he slowly sunk to the ground surprisingly with the help of the witch, who still had that insane smile plastered on her face.

"Oh don't worry." she whispered in his ear. "You won't die, I'll heal you before that happens, I just need you knocked out for a good length of time, blood loss will do that." She explained and ran her fingers through his hair, his breathing becoming faster and his vision dying slightly. "See, this is all a part of my plan. I know Arthur would never ever hurt you like that; he would never burn you alive. Me however he would, especially when you tell him that I tried to kill him. He'll burn me alive and he'll enjoy watching it. That is until; he finds out that it's not _me_ the one tied to the pyre burning."

"I d-don't understand-d." said Merlin, his voice shaking.

"Oh you'll see very soon…or, well, in a few hours when you wake up completely healed." she said cheerfully.

"Why are you d-doing this?" asked Merlin, his voice now nothing more than a whisper, his whole body shaking. The witch's hand still running through his hair, he cringed from it.

"No reason _really_, I just like to cause people pain and grief and trauma and all those kinds of things, it's nice to watch, and I really don't have anything against Arthur himself, more against his father I suppose, but hey, I was a little bored and it just happens that you got caught up in the cross fire. No hard feelings right? Oh and don't worry, I'll make sure Arthur knows I'm a witch, I'll make sure he uses the _special_ chains."

Giving one last glare at the witch, Merlin's vision went black. He wasn't quite sure how her plan was going to work as he quite clearly _wasn't_ the witch, for obvious reasons, but he'd work on that when he woke up.

Merlin wasn't quite sure when he'd finally passed out but the next thing he knew, he was healed, alive and wrinkly. He had breasts, his throat was dry and was chained to the wall of a high security cell in the Camelot dungeons. His chains were magic suppressant chains and Merlin just_ knew_, there was no getting out if this one. Merlin finally understood just what the witch had planned.

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Merlin looked up when he heard footsteps and voices. The door of his cell was unlocked and Arthur and a few knights walked in. Merlin knew he was helpless against them with the chains on, and it seemed that they knew that too with the small amount of knights that had come to get him.

They dragged him up and held him by his upper arms, standing him in front of his prince, not that they knew that though.

"Let's go." said Arthur to the knights. Merlin knew that this was his only chance to convince Arthur that he wasn't the witch, that he was Merlin, his trusty manservant, his friend.

As they dragged him from the dungeons he tried to plead for Arthur to listen to him, to let him explain but Arthur wasn't interested and didn't care to hear what Merlin had to say because Merlin wasn't 'Merlin' now was he? He still tried though, even when he was gagged, dragged out and tied to the pyre.

Tears had long ago started to stream down his face, but he didn't care and didn't try to stop them. Merlin looked down and out at the crowd; everyone was there…Gwen, Gaius, Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, Leon and most of all, Arthur. They would watch him burn to death, and he knew that when they found out they wouldn't be able to do anything. Pyres were built to withstand heavy rain and wind, nothing short of magic would be able to stop the fire and with that thought he sobbed, gave up trying to speak through the gag…it was pointless anyway…and just shook and looked down at Gaius who he knew would take his death as bad if not worse than Arthur would.

Vaguely he heard Uther read out his crimes of treason and sorcery thinking about how true they actually were. Sorcery was treason after all. Merlin knew that if he weren't here already and Uther knew that he were a warlock, he'd get a one way horse ride to Pyre Town, no return. He doubted Arthur would be able to do anything about it.

Soon after the pyre was lit, all thought went from his mind as he coughed slightly on the smoke and could feel the heat quickly rising, getting hotter and hotter as the flames grew, stretched and reached out, like a person would if they were reaching for the sky in freedom. The flames however weren't reaching out in freedom; they were reaching out in destruction. They would consume all in its path until it could consume no more, and Merlin was right in the centre of its path waiting to be consumed.

It didn't take long for the flames to reach the bottom of his shoes, just about thirty seconds in fact…not that he was counting. It's just that's how long it felt, because when the flames finally hit the bottom of his shoes, It was no longer hot but white hot and he started to pull at the chains in a feeble attempt to get away from the flames, which he knew would soon consume him. He knew he'd never be able to get away but he still tried pleading again, knowing before he began that it was pointless. They would never listen to him.

As the flames reached his ankles he truly began to feel it. What he'd felt before was nothing compared to the pain he felt now, which was still steadily growing as the flames grew reaching for his knees. Sweat was running down his face, his eyes stung from the black smoke and he coughed and shook. No longer, could he hold back a scream…no longer could he fight the pain to appease his friends and family and no longer did he care. All he wanted was to get out of the flames and with they he let out his first scream, the flames reaching his knees and he pulled and yanked at the chains, tears drying up before they reached his cheeks.

It felt like a life time that he'd been up here. Merlin was no longer standing, his feet to weak; the chains were cutting into his wrists as they now held his entire weight, but that pain was still nothing compared to the pain of the fire. He hadn't stopped screaming and he was sure his feet were now black and crispy but there was another feeling, one that drew him out of the haze of pain. It was then that he realised that this was it. He was changing from old insane witch to Merlin the warlock, and everyone else would soon know just what predicament he'd gotten himself into. Unfortunately they would be able to do nothing about it.

Even though he was still screaming in pain, his voice was now his own, his body was literally hanging from the chains as the witch had been at least a head taller than him but he was still writhing and a yanking at the chains. Merlin could hear evil laughter and gasps of surprise and then screams as he knew they'd finally saw just who they were burning and even though he knew there was no chance at his survival without someone else getting hurt, he still hoped that maybe, like usual a miracle happened and he somehow, managed to survive.

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Up Next: Merlins fate in Arthurs POV.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own MERLIN, nor do I make any money off of this piece of fan fiction.

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Finally the update his here, I would have liked it to be longer but I'm tired and my back is sore from sitting so long. So I'll have more of Arthur's POV in the next chapter along with Merlin's… Enjoy.

Also I haven't edited this one as much as I would usually due to my fatigue so if there's any mistakes… oh well.

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_Like it was choreographed, all heads and eyes turned slowly back towards the pyre like they were afraid of what they'd find, and what was once the evil witch, was now his faithful manservant…Merlin._

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ARTHUR'S POV

For a couple of long seconds, nobody moved. The entire courtyard stared at the screaming Merlin in silence. The silence however didn't reflect what Arthur was feeling on the inside. Fear, panic, anger, worry and a whole three pages of horrible emotions, even a small shred of relief that Merlin really wasn't an execution lover as he'd believed when he'd seen Merlin as 'the witch' laughing. But those seconds didn't last long, as the fear and panic overpowered the crowd as noble and peasant alike screamed and ran around trying to work out what to do.

Most peasants fled the scene in fear of the witch, only those who knew Merlin stayed and watched on in fear for the kind servants' life. Guards and knights ran for the buckets and the wells in hopes of putting out the flames even though they all knew it was pointless; the pyre was too far gone to be put out. It had been about 10 seconds since people had started running around but Arthur still hadn't moved. From the outside, all everyone would see was shock, but that wasn't what was going on in Arthurs mind. No Arthur's training and quick thinking had kicked in and he was analysing the best and quickest way to get Merlin out of the pyre. He didn't care about himself, only Merlin. About five seconds later he'd made his choice. Water wouldn't work, knocking the pyre over and hoping Merlin would roll out was just a stupid notion and so the only option was for Arthur to collect Merlin himself, be damned about his own life.

Like a flash he took off towards the pyre, dodging in and out of the crowd. About half way to the pyre one of the knights spotted him and noted the direction he was running and called for the other knights to stop their future king from killing himself with his own stupidity, but Arthur wasn't the prince for nothing. His training kicked in and he escaped the knights and in one giant leap leapt into the flames and latched himself onto the white hot burning wood.

Arthur had felt pain before but nothing compared to the feel of his hands after they had come into contact with the blackened wood; it was like a thousand needles repeatedly shooting into his hands. Smoke from the flames burned in his lungs, his clothes had quickly caught fire and his boots felt like they were melting onto his feet. Arthur had to pause for a moment in order to register the pain. 'Maybe he couldn't do this,' He thought, 'Maybe he _couldn't_ rescue Merlin'. Suddenly Arthur recalled the image of Merlin screaming in pain yanking at his chains and picked up his courage. He had to save Merlin, couldn't wasn't an option.

Quickly as he could, he climbed up the blacked wood to his friend who was still screaming and writhing as he hung from the chains. Arthur could hear the yells and screams of the crowd. He took a brief glance behind him and saw that the knights and guards were as close to the pyre as they were willing to get, a couple even had a few red burns marrying their skin. However he couldn't focus on that, he needed to help Merlin who was now no longer screaming and staring at him in shock, pain in his eyes.

"S-Sire." Chocked out Merlin, coughing from the smoke, his voice was way too soft for Arthur's liking.

"Shh..." Arthur whispered in Merlin's ear as Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlins body in preparation to lift him up in order to get the shackles from around the pyre pole.

After struggling for a good 30 seconds Arthur finally managed to get the chains loose, and happiness swelled though him, he knew it was all downhill from here on. Although unfortunately, that happiness was short lived due to weakness of the boards he was standing on, combined with the extra weight of him and Merlin and their coal like state. Said boards, fell in and he and Merlin fell down to the ground amongst the burning piles of wood. Arthur and Merlin were trapped, surrounded by burning pieces of wood, with no escape in sight. Arthur knew then and there that he had failed; he and Merlin were going to die, there was just no hope of an escape now.

Arthur just held Merlin to his chest as they both screamed in pain. Arthur knew a lot of his skin was blackened and he had a feeling they weren't going to last much longer. Merlin had even less time than him. Their lungs had filled up with smoke as the fire sucked up and oxygen and the roar of the flames blocked out any sound. Arthur clung to Merlin even tighter and prayed to whoever was available, for anyone to save them.

Merlin and Arthur laid there for about another 30 seconds, visions swimming in and out of consciousness when suddenly… BOOM! ROAR! …Arthur's ears picked up sounds of havoc and commotion. The wood of which they were buried under shook slightly before it was suddenly scattered across the courtyard. Two big clawed and scaly feet gently picked up the two bodies huddled together in the centre of commotion before they were flying away. Merlin and Arthur could be seen, clutched in a great dragons claws, flying across the horizon away from the commotion of Camelot and the scattered pieces of pyre.

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When Arthur woke, the first thing he noticed was that his body was naked and he was drenched in a bath sized pool of water in a cave with only his face showing and miraculously, he was alive. Now he wasn't much a fan of water, but in that moment it felt like heaven. He gently lifted one of his arms out of the pool to take note of the damage and hissed as his skin left the cool of the water although surprisingly when he took in his skin it was clean of any nasty burns, only small non-fatal ones marred his skin. Arthur didn't understand, he should be half burnt to a crisp. Just like Merlin.

At the thought of Merlin, Arthur jumped up out of the pool with the agility a man in his state should not possess, and hissed at the sting of his burns. His eyes searched the cave for his friend and what he saw was incredibly surprising. Merlin was laying asleep in a pool similar to the one Arthur was in, and his skin looked even better than his own, bared of any burns at all. Arthur was baffled, it was impossible, there is no way Merlins legs would have been _alive_ or even remotely pink after the pyre. However the evidence was in front of him, Merlin was alive and seemingly perfectly fine. It was a miracle.

Arthur sighed in relief and started to feel tired again, he thought that if whoever had helped them wanted to cause them harm, they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of healing them like they did. So with that thought he sunk back into the sweet cool bliss of the water and closed his eyes in rest, occasionally looking over to Merlin in order to ensure he was ok.


End file.
